It’s the night that normal Teessiders dread and the police cancel leave to prepare for.

But officers don’t believe the day before Halloween should be called ‘Mischief Night’ - for the gangs of youths out to throw eggs and fireworks, damage cars, and cause trouble are “engaging in criminal behaviour ”.

Cleveland Police dealt with around 300 incidents across Teesside on Monday night - and it’s likely there were many more incidents that went unreported.

“What’s criminal behaviour yesterday and what will be criminal tomorrow will be treated as criminal today,” said Assistant Chief Constable Jason Harwin as he addresses officers at Coulby Newham Police Station before heading out on the beat.

Inspector Dave Snaith - who is directing operations in Middlesbrough on the ground - tells his officers “to keep doing what you’ve been doing for weeks”.

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Because while there’s a lot of debate among older generations as to when Mischief Night falls, for those policing the streets it’s most definitely October 30.

As soon as the schools go back after summer, and the nights get darker, anti-social behaviour begins to creep up.

Police at Thorntree shops (Image: Ian Cooper)

More than 200 officers are brought in and all leave is cancelled to deal with the flood of bad behaviour on Mischief Night - but Insp Snaith explains how his team have been trying to battle yobs for six weeks.

They’ve been using dispersal orders - which ban youths from congregating in a certain areas - and AS13 letters, essentially warnings about anti-social behaviour which can escalate to further punishments, especially for repeat offenders.

Hotspots in Middlesbrough have included Pallister Park and Norfolk shops in Berwick Hills , Park End and the skate park, and Grove Hill. Across Teesside, Redhill Road shops in Roseworth, Stockton, parts of Billingham, Grangetown and parts of Redcar have also seen a number of problems.

‘There’s no point in chasing them’

Out with officers we head first to Norfolk Road shops and then into Pallister Park, which is dark with multiple exit points and hiding places. You can see why its so easy for youngsters use the park to launch stones and fireworks at traffic on Ormesby Road.

The exchanges between police and the youths hanging round in threes and fours is cordial - one young lad, who looks about 12, stutters and struggles to explain why he’s cycling around outside the shops.

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He’ll probably head straight home after a friendly chat with ACC Harwin, and that’s one of the main reasons so many police are out - high visibility patrols can assure members or the public, and discourage youngsters from getting involved in bother.

But the larger presence can work both ways, says one sergeant: “Some of them just like the chase though, there’s a certain few who are a bit older. They’re probably more likely to do stuff because we’re there.”

Police speaking to young people at Pallister Park (Image: Ian Cooper)

A PC leads us around Pallister Park with his torch: “It’s pointless chasing them through here in the dark, it’s not going to get us anywhere.”

As another group of lads scatter as we walk round Thorntree later in the night, ACC Harwin explains why: “It’s all some of them want. If they were committing a serious crime then we would obviously step in and make arrests. We’ve got over 200 officers out tonight but we won’t catch everyone. Some will be identified tomorrow.”

‘We need this sort of presence all the time’

Officers also spoke to local business owners about how they’re coping.

Tina Mills, assistant manager at Parker’s newsagent in Berwick Hills, is frank: “It’s good that they’re out tonight but we need this sort of presence all the time. They’ve (youths) been chucking bottles and stones in the shop, setting off fireworks, getting on the roof.

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“Customers are getting to the point where they won’t come in on a night, because they’re intimidating hanging round in their groups outside. It’s obviously not all of them because there are some good kids, but what can you do?”

The shop has banned the sale of eggs and flour on Mischief Night too: “We always do. You’ll get them coming in with handwritten notes, saying it’s for their mam or nana but I won’t sell them it. It’d just make things worse wouldn’t it?”

A frustrating pursuit

Our police van snakes around Middlesbrough, responding to calls as they happen. But frustratingly, we always seem to be a step behind.

“It’s so easy for them to just run off as soon as we turn up,” said Insp Snaith. “Our officers know these streets but the local youths know every short cut and side street.”

(Image: The Gazette)

That’s particularly evident as we speed to Beresford shops in Thorntree, after reports that a firework had been launched by youths and injured an elderly man.

But when we get there, apart from a few stragglers, the huge group has dissipated.

That’s the story of the night as we speed to Grove Hill and then back to Thorntree, after a deaf and vulnerable man saw his windows broken by five youths. He’s been targeted before. As we get there, they’ve scattered - but all night, we hear reports of a gang of 30 to 40 youngsters that we keep missing.

In Netherfields, a different police car is bricked and a male is immediately arrested.

Eyes everywhere

In the control room at the force’s HQ on Ladgate Lane, we watch the youths launching the fireworks at Thorntree on CCTV on a huge screen.

The phones are ringing off the hook, as a surge sees 77 reports of anti-social behaviour within half an hour.

“Our main areas of trouble historically have been Thorntree and Berwick Hills, but it’s been happening all over the town,” said Superintendent Bev Gill, who is co-ordinating the Mischief Night response in the control room.

“It can be fairly low level for a while but all of a sudden it can accelerate - the crazy time is usually between 7pm and 9pm.

“The CCTV we get is invaluable and can lead to people being identified later.”

There are six dispersal orders also in place, but Supt Gill says they’re not publicised.

“We’ve done that in the past, and we’ve found that people will simply avoid those areas and cause trouble elsewhere which makes them useless.”

The policing response doesn’t stop at the end of Mischief Night either - Halloween through to Bonfire Night is also very busy - while there’s a Tees-Wear derby to police on Sunday.

But, as is evident from our short trip out with officers, they’re doing everything they can.